Ethiopia Conducts Air Strike In Western Part of Tigray Region

People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath of an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on October 20, 2021. AP
People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath of an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on October 20, 2021. AP
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Ethiopia Conducts Air Strike In Western Part of Tigray Region

People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath of an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on October 20, 2021. AP
People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath of an airstrike in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on October 20, 2021. AP

Ethiopia conducted an air strike on Sunday in the western part of the Tigray region that hit a training site of the rebellious Tigrayan forces and an arms depot, government spokesperson Legesse Tulu told Reuters.

It was not immediately possible to verify the claim as communications are down throughout most of war-hit Tigray.

"I can confirm there was a successful airstrike in Mai Tsebri targeting training site of illegal recruits of the TPLF and a depot of heavy artillery," Tulu said.

TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told Reuters he had no information about any strike on Sunday and would seek to verify the report with his colleagues.

Ethiopian federal forces and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) have been fighting for almost a year in a conflict that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million.

Mai Aini and Adi Harush Refugee Camps, which host thousands of Eritrean refugees, are both in the vicinity of Mai Tsebri.

Tulu said that the refugee camps were not affected by the strike.

Representatives from Ethiopia’s Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



Zelensky Says Trump Made 'Final Decision' to Give Ukraine Patriot License

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images/AFP
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Zelensky Says Trump Made 'Final Decision' to Give Ukraine Patriot License

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at UN Headquarters on September 23, 2026 in New York City. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images/AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said US President Donald Trump told him he would allow Ukraine to produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles, after a series of reversals on the issue.

Kyiv is facing a shortage of the missiles, which remain the only ones reliably able to counter the ballistic missiles that Russia launches at Ukraine.

"At our last meeting, President Trump emphasized to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licenses for the production of Patriot missiles," Zelensky said in a voice note to journalists.

In July, Trump said it would be "pretty cool" to grant Ukraine the licenses, before backtracking, saying the United States should be "very careful" before granting Ukraine authorization.

Ukraine has reported an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February, diverting supplies of the advanced systems.

Even if the licenses are granted, establishing industrial capacity would require more than a year and would not meet Kyiv's immediate needs.

And Kyiv has renewed calls for urgent support ahead of winter, and the threat of a repeated campaign of Russian strikes against Ukraine's power and heating infrastructure.

Kyiv needs five percent of the United States' Patriot interceptor missiles to get through the winter and 10 percent to destroy all of Russia's ballistic projectiles, Zelensky said last month.

In parallel, he said Kyiv is working on its own anti-ballistic systems, Freya.


Iran Proposes Reopening Hormuz Within 7 Days

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 23, 2026. Picture taken through a window. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 23, 2026. Picture taken through a window. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Iran Proposes Reopening Hormuz Within 7 Days

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 23, 2026. Picture taken through a window. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, September 23, 2026. Picture taken through a window. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Iran has submitted a proposal to the United States to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, its foreign minister told media outlets in New York.

"If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start," Abbas Araghchi, who is in the US for the UN General Assembly, told media outlets including the New York Times and The Guardian.

Japanese news agency Kyodo was the first to report the proposal, citing a senior Iranian official on Tuesday.

Iranian media, however, denied the Kyodo report, while authorities in Tehran have not clarified their position.

Araghchi also met for talks on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.

Iran has previously set out seven conditions for ending the war and reopening the strait.

According to Araghchi, as quoted by the New York Times, the latest plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon.

It also calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.

On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz.

Araghchi said he was waiting for a US response to the plan and maintained that China supported the proposal.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the United States this week where he is meeting with Trump for talks.

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military, told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran's demands.

The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, reopen the strait and launch talks on Iran's nuclear program.

But the deal broke down shortly afterwards when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.

Iran requires ships to obtain authorization before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons.

Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.


An Explosion Near the Acropolis in Greece Injures at Least 2 People and Collapses a Building

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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An Explosion Near the Acropolis in Greece Injures at Least 2 People and Collapses a Building

Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Firefighters work at the scene following a powerful blast that caused a building to collapse and injured at least two people in Athens' Plaka district, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A powerful blast shook the Greek capital’s tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who had to be rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said.

The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece’s most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged, The Associated Press said.

Firefighters rescued two women from an adjacent building, with police saying both were being transported to a hospital. Local media said a passer-by was also slightly injured by the blast.

Police cordoned off the area, while the fire department said rescue crews were checking whether any more people might be trapped.

Video footage from the scene showed rubble strewn across the street, with parked cars smashed by falling debris.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, but local media said a gas leak was suspected.